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I'm at the tail end of doctorate research project at Auburn University in Wildlife Sciences (got my B.S. and M.S. in same field at NC State), so I'm currently dealing with a very saturated job market even at that end of the spectrum. I've got more friends than I count on my fingers and toes with a 4 year degree and struggling to find a job that even pays $30,000 full-time. I'd think long and hard before counting on making a career in natural resources and if you do proceed with that career path know that an advanced degree is almost a MUST to be competitive for even entry-level biologist jobs. 4-year guys are grunts on burn crews, bush hog tractors, and picking invasive weeds off mountain sides right now. Bottom line is that the 4-year degree job applicant is growing at a rate exponentially greater than the job market can support and has been for some time now. Sorry to be a downer, but that is the harsh reality of the budget cuts that have hit the field often and hard over the last decade.

Get your degree in wildlife biology, etc. One thing you will need to understand.....entry level pay is very poor in any government positions. If you decide to pursue a career as a game warden, remember this....a game warden is on call just about 24/7 during the hunting seasons. If you love to hunt, you can just about kiss that goodby. Whatever you decide, get your degree first. Good luck in your endeavors.

It's a dream a lot of us have (or have had), so, like dihardhunter says, things are competitive and you have to make yourself stand out. It's been 20+ years since I thought about it, but I and some friends all looked into it at different times (when I was interested, I was in northern Wisconsin, can't say for sure if things are/were the same everywhere, but I suspect that jobs like this generally attract a lot of interest). If you are looking at government work, serving in the military might give you a bit of an advantage during the hiring process (certainly with the feds, and probably with most states).

There are 10 jobs out West to every 1 job in the East. Problem is they are all still drawing 50-100 applicants and pay usually breaks down to $9-13/hour. Not hardly enough to support a family. Check out the following website managed by Texas A&M Wildlife. It lists pretty much every natural resources job that comes available across the nation. There is a little bit of everything.

For me personally, it was a blessing in disguise that I got sucked into a PhD program because I honestly think I would be making diddly squat doing technician work with a Master's degree in today's economy. Instead, I'm making just about the same off a research stipend/grant and hopefully position myself to 'stand out' as Murdy says above. At this point, I'm looking to be a professor/researcher at a land grant university, but I'm still looking at another couple years of Post Doctorate work after my dissertation is finished in the spring. Eeshh!!!

I ended up going the oppsite direction. I was in your situation not to long ago. I love the outdoors and said that there is no way that I would have a desk job. After my first year in college I realized that this working 12 hour days and every weekend not only cut into my free time but was going to make a old man out of me real fast. I decided a little bit of a more of a desk job wasnt all that bad. I now have every weekend off, get three weeks time off and have enough money to be able to do the things that I enjoy on my time off.

I am not trying to change you mind but just saying the direction that I went.

I ended up going the oppsite direction. I was in your situation not to long ago. I love the outdoors and said that there is no way that I would have a desk job. After my first year in college I realized that this working 12 hour days and every weekend not only cut into my free time but was going to make a old man out of me real fast. I decided a little bit of a more of a desk job wasnt all that bad. I now have every weekend off, get three weeks time off and have enough money to be able to do the things that I enjoy on my time off.

I am not trying to change you mind but just saying the direction that I went.

I don't follow you? Are you saying wardens work 12 hours a day 7 days a week? The one I know has pretty normal hours.

Even with all the negative comments about being a warden. I would have loved to do it, but I would have been going into it in the 60's. I wouldn't want to be young the way things are now.

I too used to want a career in the outdoors. I thought it made sense to work in the outdoors since that was my passion. I then started thinking about who I would be working for, hours, temperature of job environment, compensation etc and I started thinking that it wouldn't be for me. I'll admit, the largest factor was the $$$, it's harder to raise a family on $40K/year when you can work elsewhere and make double or triple that. The other biggest factor was that I love the outdoors and I didn't want to get burned out on it which is a very real possibility.

I even took a semester off of college when I was 20 and filmed for a hunting show called Fair Game TV, it was on Versus '08 and '09, and that really opened my eyes to the outfitter/guide end of the business. We traveled all over, from British Columbia, New Mexico, Old Mexico, Kansas, tip to tip of Texas, and New Zealand. It was fun, learned a ton, but didn't make any money. I wouldn't trade that experience for the world but I'm not sure I would want to do it as a career. I was not home for 4 months and temporarily lost touch with friends and family, that part wasn't too cool.

All that to say, try working in the outdoors and see if it works for you, if not, change careers and you'll never have the "what if" thought in the back of your mind.

Here's a thought though, you could guide big game hunts in the Rockies Sept- end of Oct, then do deer hunts somewhere Nov-mid Jan, then move to the southern hemisphere (New Zealand or Argentina) and guide hunts down there from March to July. Maybe pick up some fishing guiding in there somewhere too. While working for Fair Game, I spent 6 weeks with an outfitter in south Tx doing deer hunts, some of his guides were trout/redfish guides on the Tx coast for 9 months a year and guided deer hunts Oct-Jan. Most outfitters are always looking to hire good guides.

The good thing is you have options, options, options! For sure get your degree first though, you'll never regret it. I went back to school after Fair Game and got my Petroleum Engineering degree from Texas Tech Univ, great career for me personally.